As a seasoned performer at the age of 22, Lexie Lakmann has been honing in on her jazz and R&B stylings since she was a child. The La Crosse, WI native grew up in a musical home with parents who let her dive head first into the world of performing. Her mother and father are both teachers and freelance musicians around town, so it was no surprise when she began showing interest in music too. By the age of 14, Lexie started singing and playing the cello at weddings with her mother. Later in her teen years, she joined a local cover band where she performed around the La Crosse area. Her first experience singing jazz was at the Root Note in La Crosse where she avidly attended their weekly jazz nights. One of those nights she was asked to join the band of retired jazz professors in a rendition of At Last, and from there on out, she was hooked on the thrill of live jazz music.

Fast forward to 2020, Lexie is a senior at the University of Stevens Point studying music education and jazz, and she has performed just about everything from Opera to Led Zeppelin. A few groups you may have seen her with recently are the funk/jazz group Mead Street Collective, the rock band The 3’s and 7’s, the UW-Stevens Point Jazz Ensemble, and the Central Wisconsin Jazz Ensemble at the 2019 Riverfront Jazz Festival. Although she loves experimenting in almost every genre, her captivating and intuitive jazz singing is what earned her recognition in Downbeat Magazine’s 43rd Annual Student Music Awards. As she finishes her undergraduate degree, she hopes to continue gigging in Central Wisconsin and beyond, and put together a jazz group of her own.

Scholarships Received

• Anne Schierl Fine Arts Jazz
• Eunice DeBaker
• Keller Opera Enhancement
• Worth Company Jazz
• Riverfront Jazz Festival Scholarship
• Music Department Scholarship 

Performances

• Performed with Jazz Central Voices at the Marcus Center for the national ACDA conference in Milwaukee, WI
• Featured Vocalist with La Crosse Concert Band
• Featured vocalist with the Central Wisconsin Jazz Ensembler at the Riverfront Jazz Festival
• Featured vocalist with the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point Jazz Enemble

Scholarships Received

• Anne Schierl Fine Arts Jazz
• Eunice DeBaker
• Keller Opera Enhancement
• Worth Company Jazz
• Riverfront Jazz Festival Scholarship
• Music Department Scholarship

Performances

• Performed with Jazz Central Voices at the Marcus Center for the national ACDA conference in Milwaukee, WI
• Featured Vocalist with La Crosse Concert Band
• Featured vocalist with the Central Wisconsin Jazz Ensembler at the Riverfront Jazz Festival
• Featured vocalist with the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point Jazz Enemble